Malaysia's
New dilemma
Some 80,000 unemployed grad, mostly Malay, have to be retrained; capable non-Malays lost to Singapore. Sangkanchil
Aug 22, 2006

As the result of a harebrained racial policy, the poor taxpayer has to finance the "retraining" of these (under par) students.

While an undergraduate is expected to fine-tune his creativity and resourcefulness at the university, it appears that Malay "graduates" have hardly learnt anything. The government has to continue changing their diapers.

Some of these "graduates" will, on the Ali Baba system, be appointed to senior positions in government departments and government linked companies.

The result is that they cause colossal sums of money to go down the drain as well as mismanagement and incompetence.

That some of the non-Malay graduates in this group cannot find gainful employment is not surprising since they have to contend with government imposed quotas, skewed affirmative action impediments and what not.

Had deserving non-Malay students been given places in the university instead of these (under-par Malay) "graduates", the economic, political and social life of the nation would have benefitted greatly.

As it is, non-Malays can only shine in more congenial surroundings overseas. For example, Dr Cheong (Choon Kong) a Malaysian chose not to return to Malaysia after obtaining his PhD in Mathematics in Australia.

Instead he went to work in Singapore where he served as the CEO of the Singapore Airlines for more than 30 yrs, retiring in April 2004.

During his stewardship the airline was ranked among the best for in-flight service, punctuality safety etc.

MAS on the other hand became notorious for its reckless waste of public monies and mismanagement. Dr Keith Goh a renowned micro-surgeon, also an ex-Malaysian is now practicing in Singapore.

Neither did Dr Nair, a physicist with NASA come back to Malaysia. And there are many more of such disillusioned people

tuapooi
In Singapore there are lots of Malaysians or ex-Malaysians. I just visited one of my primary schoolmates (first met 46 years ago).

He rounded up some chaps, and when they told me one by one that they have converted their passports (even those diehard, hard-core Malaysian who vow not to surrender their Malaysian passports), I felt a huge sense of loss, indescribable.

I have to accept the fact that this is the real world. Some of them are
Professors, directors, pilots, CEOs of multinational and principals of schools.

The only one who came back to Malaysia married a Malaysian wife. Like other Diaspora, they scatter and put down roots where there is nourishment and they grow there. Best wishes to our fellow Malaysians.

In this borderless world, like money, people move around. Government is powerless to stop flow of people and Malaysia certainly does not have a Berlin Wall!

We must celebrate the resourcefulness of our buddies who can gravitate to places where they can maximise their potential.
Sangkanchil